Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A memoir of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll that's long on wry humor and short onwell, sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.North Carolina-raised Folds describes himself, with a kind of literary crooked smile, as the sort of person who's likely to be seen pacing around in his boxer shorts in his front yard, coffee cup in hand, working out the lyrics or melody to one of his songs. A master of the short story in songsee "Army" on the 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold MessnerFolds writes of growing up obsessed by music and bursting with creativity, which landed him in a psychologist's office in a blue-collar South in which " artsy' things would normally have been written off as being for queers.' " A fierce advocate and ally was his mother, who, with his father, indulged him "as I terrorized the household with painfully long sessions of repeated phrases at the piano or snare drum." Clearly gifted, he enrolled in an alternative high school with patient music teachers. Later in the book, the author encourages his fellow musicians to take up the cause of music teachers "unless you really believe you learned nothing from them," in which case, he gamely ventures, they should take up the cause of reforming anti-marijuana laws. There are nice notes throughout the text, including an early pledge to himself not to perform anyone's songs but his own and the excitement of releasing his first album, which, he writes, might not be a masterpiece but still found his band, Ben Folds Five, giving their all: "From then on we would only do exactly what felt right." What felt right led him to a kind of cult-classic status, to say nothing of friendships with the likes of Neil Gaiman and William Shatner, the latter of whom provides some entertaining anecdotes. Ultimately, Folds delivers an amiable and low-key memoir without the tawdry pyrotechnics of most rock biographies.A pleasure for fans and encouragement for novices to tune in. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Singer-songwriter Folds wraps his memoir around a childhood dream of capturing lightning bugs and showing them to others as a metaphor for his goals in creating and sharing his art. He recalls his working class upbringing in North Carolina where he learned to be polite, irreverent, hardworking, and utterly undisciplined, and where he obsessively listened to music. He talks about college: his brief, but important, semester at the University of Miami, finding a mentor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and an accidental semester overseas. Folds is introspective as he talks about forming Ben Folds Five in the mid '90s, then about the band's abrupt breakup and his solo career. In keeping with the vulnerability he values in his songwriting, he includes brief reflections on family and four marriages that ended in divorce. The book shines when Folds examines his creative process, reflects on pop music, and talks about the power of creative visualization. A Dream about Lightning Bugs is written with an honesty, humor, and a profanity that fans of his music will recognize and appreciate.--Terrence Miltner Copyright 2019 Booklist

Publishers Weekly
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In these delightful reflections, singer-songwriter Folds explores the ways in which music shaped his life and offers glimpses into the process of making music. At age three, he dreamed of a jar of fireflies; looking back, he realizes that the glowing jar is an image of his view of artistry and art: “making art is about following what’s luminous to you and putting it in a jar, to share with others.” Folds weaves in autobiography, from growing up in 1970s Greensboro, N.C., and his years at the University of Miami (he dropped out just credits shy of graduation), to his early days of making music in Nashville in the 1990s, and his world tours with the Ben Fold Five and on his own. Along the way, Folds ruminates on songwriting: “often the music fools me into something I’d rather not have revealed lyrically.” With self-deprecating humor, he characterizes himself as a singer who was forced to sing: “I had to grow a pair, or lose a pair, whatever—it’s all so confusing.” Folds’s fans will take great pleasure in this charming and insightful memoir. (July)